The law, as I understand it, uses differing burden of proof depending on the nature of the offense. From the strict implications of “beyond a reasonable doubt” to the lesser “based on the preponderance of evidence”, there is a new standard that is being used in the Tasergate investigation.

It’s the same burden of proof used by the AGW crowd: We have no proof, but “it’s likely” you’re guilty anyway.

Bill “Beldar” Dyer explains how the defense works:

Instead, Branchfire has piled a guess (that the Palins wanted Wooten fired, rather than, for example, counseled, disciplined, or reassigned) on top of an inference (that when the Palins expressed concern to Monegan about Wooten, they were really threatening to fire Monegan if he didn’t fire Wooten) on top of an innuendo (that Gov. Palin “fired” Monegan at least in part because of his failure to fire Wooten) — from which Branchflower then leaps to a legal conclusion: “abuse of authority.” Branchflower reads the Ethics Act to prohibit any governmental action or decision made for justifiable reasons benefiting the State if that action or decision might also make a public official happy for any other reason. That would mean, of course, that governors must never act or decide in a way that makes them personally happy as a citizen, or as a wife or mother or daughter, and that they could only take actions or make decisions which left them feeling neutral or upset. This an incredibly shoddy tower of supposition, and a ridiculous misreading of the law.

Confederate Yankee sums up what I am calling the “Gore Standard” this way:

Alaska Democrats hell-bent on lynching Sarah Palin for Dear Leader Obama all but promised a guilty verdict before their investigation into Tasergate began, but the best they could come up with was a unilateral fact-free declaration that amounts to “Sarah Palin abused power because I was hired to find that Sarah Palin abused her power, even though my own report contradicts that. BUGS! BUGS! BUGS!!!“

Expect the left and the compliant press to use the Gore Standard quite often in the days remaining before the election. Be scared by how this standard will be abused in a Democrat administration.